Banks and Competition

According to the Grattan Institute, Australian Banks have a higher Return on Equity than any of the other developed countries as well as the Big4 banks commanding a a 20 to 40 basis point advantage over other banks, it is no wonder that customers are losing out billions of lost interest.

Another report titled Competition in the Australian Financial System was prepared by the Australian Productivity Commission and covered the overall Financial market including banking, insurance and broking. Amongst some of the conclusion are gems like this ..."

• But the larger financial institutions, particularly but not only in banking, have the ability to exercise market power over their competitors and consumers.

• Many of the highly profitable financial institutions have achieved that state with persistently opaque pricing; conflicted advice and remuneration arrangements; layers of public policy and regulatory requirements that support larger incumbents; and a lack of easily accessible information, inducing unaware customers to maintain loyalty to unsuitable products. “

And please note that this report was produced 29 June 2018, almost before the RC really got interesting. So it cannot come as a surprise to customers of these institutions (and that pretty much means almost everybody) that you have been paying a high price for the artificial state of Financial Services for a long time. The unfortunate reality of this is that the average consumer is aware of this but the cost and inconvenience of changing is simply too great. Inertia is the banks friend.!